Sorry for the update delay guys, there's a bad network connection at my current location.
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A teenage boy dressed in all black with white hair and a black metallic prosthetic for a left arm, sat on a strange object that moved at speeds unachievable by any structure of this world. With the uneven nature of the road, even the most luxurious and well made objects of travel will not reach half his speed which is 80km/h. The strange object had a black body with two wheels which seem to move perpetually.
Hagime Nagumo was the teenage boy who was driving his magic powered two wheeled drive speedily as there were no obstacles.
Ever since he left the world's strongest team, he's been driving with few rests as anxiety and questions bombard him endlessly as no solutions brightens his mind and heart. Ken being the love doctor in his eyes assured him that Koari feels the same way he's buried in his heart before. But he knew depending on first impression things could go awry.
It was nighttime, and Nagumo can already see the towns outposts that is illuminated with magic lamps. A few meters away from the outpost, Hagime turns his two wheeled drive to the left where a rocky landform could be seen. Since Oscar's Labyrinth used to be a mine, such landforms could be seen frequently so Hagime figured it will be easy to hide his bike.
"... ...Aaah!, It still frustrates me when am in these situations. With the treasure trove around I wouldn't be thinking soo hard to hide my bike everytime I come across human settlement, Ken had to suddenly get busy and since I wasn't, he needed the ring more... ...I know it thanks to this that I– and now am talking to myself... *deep sigh*... I really need some sleep "
After realizing his state, Hagime starts walking towards the outpost that looked like a kiosk with two tired soldiers leaning on their spears but will be ready for combat at any moment with their standing posture. Hagime walks by into the town naturally without being called or sensed and asked for directions to the second best inn.
Horaud Town was an amalgamation of a kingdom town with soldiers and a lord from the kingdom as well as an adventurers town for the most part with about 70percent of the goods sold being adventure supplies. There are more inns and restaurants than huge mansions and luxuriously dressed nobles since this town mean business more than often than not.
Most of the buildings are made with stone and they face the great labyrinth in a nest semi circle arrangement since that's why this town exist for. As expected from a town in a fantasy world, Horaud was lit with magic streetlights and lamps which kept the labyrinth town busy even at night. Since the town generates alot of taxes and the labyrinth used to train their army, the kingdom keeps the order which makes it more clean and peaceful than your average adventurer town.
On his way, he sees alot of familiar shops and vendors but one thing made him stop dead in his tracks as he looks at a particular window. This place was the inn the Hero's party stayed before their their first dive into the great Orcus labyrinth.
Hagime's mind traveled back in time to the night Koari come to him and they talked about certain things which clarified most questions to Hagime. And even if he hates to admit or hide it, Koari made his heart skip a beat that night when she mentioned why she always smiled when she saw him and the promise they made to protect each other.
"... Now that I think about it, that felt like a confession and I just... sigh"
Hagime brings his mind back and continues his walk a few blocks ahead to a three story building which seems unaffected by the busy atmosphere on the streets. Hagime walks in and orders a room on the third floor facing the labyrinth and a hot bath. Hagime leaves the inn after inspecting his room with satisfaction and heads to the Holward inn which the Hero's party mostly stays after a long exploration.
Hagime hid his presence and used zero gravity magic on himself which allowed him to levitate to the top floor of the inn and sneak in through the windows. After a short search and a scan of the entire inn with [Long sense], Hagime concludes that his former classmates might either be in the kingdom's capital or exploring the labyrinth. Secretly glad of either, Hagime goes back to his inn and sleeps immediately after a long bath in the hot tub.
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For the next three days, Hagime moved from drinking spots to inns and restaurants in search of rumors, stories and any information about the Hero's party and their exploits after his fall which was about three months ago. He had a lot of varying feelings of these events than he expected.
He had mild feelings towards the party's advancement past the floor with the behemoth since he knew that Kouki would soon become stronger than the monster but what surprise was the case Aiko made to the church which gave some students their choice of training and usefulness.
As expected the response to his and Ken's supposed death and clear betrayal brought a brief frown to his face but faded as quickly as it came. He already knew how his former classmates viewed him, not to mention the church which determined things by their usefulness but at least it was comforting to know that Meld-san and Aiko-sensei showed concern in their own way.
On his fourth day, news of the heroes return reached his ears and chaos ensued as they made another progress in their exploration through the labyrinth. For the whole day it was just retellings of the appearance, vigor and deeds of the 'Apostles of god' and how they grow stronger with each dive which assures humanity of their victory against the vile demons.
An hour before midnight, Hagime once again arrived at the Holward inn in search of in target. His long sense tells him that his target hasn't changed her room which is easier than searching the whole female section of the floor.
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In the middle of the night. Surrounded by the night, the heroes were completely exhausted. Both physically and mentally, thanks to the continuous unexpected developments in the labyrinth. All of them fell asleep, but Koari wasn't able to sleep even now. Koari's room was a single room, so it was not a large one. A table set and bed with carved wooden feet, a small fireplace, and a leather sofa in front of it. In the winter, the flame would surely brightened the room, and the inn guests would be warmed just by seeing it.
Koari was thinking about what happened as the monster's further develop some sort of instinct and strength unidentifiable to their figure, she watched the unlit fireplace while deeply entrusting her body to the sofa. The insides of Koari's head was like an unarranged bookshelf, with all of that information in disorder.
Even if she couldn't think about it, she wanted to think. And from then on, her head that ran round and around in circles didn't give out any constructive solutions to advance quickly at all. She suddenly smiled when she reminisced the days with Hagime, then she could only knit her eyebrows because of the nudging feeling that it's her fault especially when Shizuku told her Ken's opinion about her.
Knock Knock "Hm?". Knock Knock
Koari unhappy with being pulled out of her thought process walked towards the window to shoo whatever was hitting the window.
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Immediately the window is unlocked, Hagime body flicks behind Koari and covers her mouth to prevent her from shouting in surprise.
"Koari it's me, Hagime. Please be calm and don't shout when I release you..."
After the reminder Hagime slowly moves his hands and allows her to turn and face him. Without an eye patch, Koari took less than five seconds to him as she covers her mouth in surprise and relief at which Hagime smiles.
"... H-hagime?... y-you're alive?... you're alive"
"How have you been, Koari?"
"thank you for staying alive... *sobbing* ...thank you, Hagime"
Hearing him call her name with a familiar voice but a different tone was the final straw that broke the camel's back. She rushes in his chest and release a stream of tears whiles chanting his name like he was her god, Hagime stands there awkwardly for a few seconds but instinctively hugs her and calms her down with a pat as he thinks things could have gone much worse.